iCR: Investigating Community Resilience

Placemaker, Gary Howe returns to discuss the concept complete streets. Gary and local film maker Aaron Dennis have completed two in a series of visual promos for the support of complete streets planning in Northwest Michigan communities. Plus Gary brings along his own set of demonstrative pictures outlining the principals of complete streets. Complete streets connect neighborhoods and whole communities. Complete streets do not favor one form of transportation over another. Drivers, bikers, runners, walkers and strollers are all served safely. Gary and Dave discuss the connecting value of a complete street vs the separation cause by single use thruways.

ICR takes a look at the work of local teacher, Bill Kouchy who three years ago publicly announced his plans for a local scale biodiesel production facility. Under the name Northwest Michigan Biodiesel, Kouchy's production facility is about to start up. Bill shares his experiences with technical development, financial pressures and decisions, and networking with others in the field. His financial decisions reflects the hurdles that exist to local investment in local-scale projects, his networking an example of building social capital. His ultimate plan includes local production of canola, food grade canola oil to be used in local restaurants, and that oil recycled into biodiesel fuel to be used principally as local farm machinery fuel. A totally local loop!

ABOUT iCR

Here is some of NREC’s best work, in the form of video interviews, Bioneers keynotes, and videos of a few other notable luminaries who spoke in our region between 2012 and 2014. We are leaving this material available as part of Bob Russell’s legacy and because this material still has great relevance.

The Neahtawanta Center launched a project called Investigating Resilience in 2012.

Ecosystem resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to tolerate disturbance without collapsing into a qualitatively different state that is controlled by a different set of processes. A resilient ecosystem can withstand shocks and rebuild itself when necessary. Resilience in social systems has the added capacity of humans to anticipate and plan for the future. Humans are part of the natural world. We depend on ecological systems for our survival and we continuously impact the ecosystems in which we live from the local to global scale. Resilience is a property of these linked social-ecological systems (SES). "Resilience" as applied to ecosystems, or to integrated systems of people and the natural environment, has three defining characteristics:

The amount of change the system can undergo and still retain the same controls on function and structure

The degree to which the system is capable of self-organization

The ability to build and increase the capacity for learning and adaptation

As we focus in on some specific areas within our social community, such as food systems, health care, energy and economics, we will investigate their level of resilience based on indicators such as: vibrancy, inclusiveness, diversity, optimism, cooperation, self reliance. Ecological systems can be assessed by using some of the same indicators, along with fragmentation, degradation, ability for regeneration, resistance to disease, and balance.